Indonesians Satisfied with Gov’t Handling of Pandemic despite Surge in Cases

Jakarta. A majority of Indonesian people still highly trust the government in its handling of the coronavirus outbreak although newly cases have been surging in the last few months, according to results from a poll released on Sunday.

The survey, conducted by research organization Indikator Politik Indonesia in the last week of September, found that 60.5 percent of respondents are satisfied with the works of the Joko Widodo administration in containing the spread of the disease.

The percentage of public approval increased significantly from 55.3 during the same survey conducted in July.

"The president’s approval rating in the [the government’s] handling of the pandemic remains high and stable," Burhanuddin Muhtadi, the pollster’s director, said in Jakarta.

The survey was conducted on Sept. 24-30 involving 1,200 respondents in all 34 provinces.

September was the worst period yet in the Indonesian outbreak when caseloads rose dramatically as Jakarta began to report four-digit daily numbers and several other provinces primarily in Sumatra emerged as new hotspots.

The national daily count also began to pass 4,000 in the same month.

The country saw the highest monthly death toll in September, with a total of 3,323 Covid-19 deaths.

However, the government has intensified measures to increase diagnostic testing capacity and ensure adequate supply of a vaccine against the virus from various sources.

Upward Trend
The current trend has suggested that upticks in newly cases will continue. Indonesia has recorded 4,105 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours to take its total to 361,867, including 12,511 deaths.

The country has been averaging 4,159 cases since Oct. 1, in comparison to an average of 3,740 in September.

The total number of active cases stands at 64,032 or 17.7 percent of the reported cases.

Jakarta, the country’s worst-hit province, reported below 1,000 new cases for the second day in row for a total of 94,327, including 2,032 deaths. Its 18-day average stands at 1,144.

The surge is slowing in East Java with an average of below 300 cases since the beginning of the month. It’s ranked second with a total of 48,932 cases, but has the highest death toll of 3,544 Covid-19 deaths.

West Java added 211 cases, the lowest daily count in a week, for a total of 30,254. The country’s most populous province has reported the second-highest daily average since last month and outranked Central Java in the third place on Oct. 1.

Central Java is now fourth with a total of 29,079 cases, an increase of 356 on the total number of cases the day before. But it’s ranked third in the total number of coronavirus-related deaths, standing at 1,582 as of Sunday.

Hotspots in Sumatra
A dramatic surge in newly cases has occurred in Riau and West Sumatra. Both provinces in Sumatra have now joined the top ten of worst-affected provinces.

With a total of 11,642 cases, Riau overtook South Kalimantan (11,439 cases) in the eighth place on Sunday, below the four provinces in Java, South Sulawesi (17,483), North Sumatra (11,944) and East Kalimantan (11,885).

West Sumatra also came from nowhere to get a place in the top ten by overtaking Bali a day earlier. It has just below 11,000 cases overall on Sunday, a dramatic surge from only around 2,200 cases on Sept. 1.

West Sumatra has the highest 18-day average outside the top four provinces in Java.